Summary of "Agent sessions and where agents run | Ep 4 of 6 - VS Code Learn"
Key concepts and product features
Session management in VS Code
- View, switch between, fork, archive, rename, and delete agent sessions from the session view.
- Create new sessions using the + button or the “new session” UI.
- Right-click a session for quick organization or cleanup actions.
Where agents can run
- Local: agent work runs on your machine (used in the demo).
- Copilot CLI: runs a background agent locally via the GitHub Copilot CLI (terminal-first workflow).
- Cloud (GitHub platform): compute runs on github.com, enabling asynchronous runs independent of your local machine.
- Third-party agents: option to integrate other agent providers.
Session modes
- Plan mode: agent acts as a planner (outlines steps, supports iterative planning).
- Ask mode: chatbot-style conversational mode (good for initial exploration).
- Agent mode: executes work (makes changes, opens PRs, etc.).
Recommendation: iterate using Ask/Plan modes, then switch to Agent mode when ready to implement.
Example workflow demonstrated
- Use “changes” as context so the agent sees modified files.
- Commit and push changes locally.
- Start a cloud session to “write a README”; Copilot creates a work-in-progress pull request on GitHub.
- Inspect the running session and the PR in VS Code and on github.com (Agents page).
- From GitHub you can view session progress, the model used, premium request counts, and tool costs.
Visibility and controls
- Sessions started in VS Code appear in the sessions list; hovering reveals where they run (local vs cloud).
- The GitHub Agents UI mirrors VS Code session info and provides cost/usage details.
- Multiple sessions can run concurrently; you can switch focus between them.
Tutorials / guides mentioned (to be covered in other episodes)
- Deep dive video(s) on GitHub Copilot CLI.
- Customizing agents / custom instructions.
- Next episode: inspecting agent calls/actions, understanding LLM calls and tool usage.
Practical takeaways
- You can run and monitor agents locally, via Copilot CLI, or in the GitHub cloud.
- Use Plan/Ask modes to design tasks and Agent mode to execute them.
- The platform provides tracing and visibility (model, requests, tool costs) for sessions and PRs.
- This setup is useful for running asynchronous work on the platform while continuing local development.
Main speaker / sources
- VS Code Learn series instructor (narrator of the tutorial)
- Platforms referenced: Visual Studio Code, GitHub Copilot, GitHub (Agents UI), GitHub Copilot CLI, and third-party agent integrations.
Category
Technology
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